Ault father looking for hope in his son’s eyes after snowmobile crash

Sean Girard reads some information about brain injuries as he sits next to his son Travis Girard, 13, last Friday at Children's Hospital in Aurora. Travis suffered a severe brain injury after a snowmobile accident in April. Sean regularly comes to the Children's Hospital to help Travis with physical therapy and to support him through the recovery process.

Sean Girard helps his son, Travis Girard, to lay his hands flat and work the muscles in his fingers and hands during a visit last Friday to Children's Hospital in Aurora. Sean constantly is working with Travis' recovery.

Sean Girard pushes his son Travis Girard, 13, out of Children's Hospital to spend some time outdoors during his visit last Friday to Aurora. Medical technicians working with Sean have set Aug. 12 as the release date for Travis, at which point Sean will continue the recovery process from their home in Ault.

A benefit auction for the family of Travis Girard starts at 4 p.m. Sunday at Randy’s Grill, 2118 35th Ave. in Greeley. Drinks and dinner starts at 4 p.m., with 10 percent of all restaurant proceeds going to the family. The live auction begins at 5 p.m. and should last until 7 p.m.

You can make contributions to Tammy Howell, for the benefit of Travis Girard, P.O. Box 1451, Ault, CO 80610.

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The plan was simple: Chase the snow. But the idea behind it was even simpler — Sean Girard wanted to spend time with his son, Travis .

The two took one of those trips together every year, the trips fathers have taken with their sons for eons. Sean saved what he could from his job working as an engineer for Union Pacific, and the two left for a week up in Wyoming to ride snowmobiles in the spring snow. They planned on hitting Centennial, Jackson and maybe Steamboat. Whatever place had the best snow would get the most attention.

The trips together were even more important since Sean married Tammy Howell, an interior design sales rep with West Point Interiors in Greeley, six years ago. Tammy had two older sons, Dalton and Logan Howell, 19 and 17, respectively.

Travis, 13, also spent time playing sports, especially baseball, and he was growing up, and that made the trips even better. It was hard to say how many other chances they’d get. Snowmobiling was one of their favorites, as Travis had done that since he was 5, but they also went fishing or boated on the lake or rode a motorcycle together.

So when Sean talks about that day, April 1, he will mention the clear blue sky before he starts to cry and talks about what happened next. He wants to remember the good times, too. Those good times are why he hasn’t given up on Travis yet, even when others, including his insurance company, already have.

Sean went up a steep hill and Travis followed. The hill was like many others they had climbed before, but Sean didn’t like the way Travis hugged the edge of the cliff. Sean waved at his son to go hard left. Travis hesitated and Sean remains haunted by the pause. He wonders if Travis hadn’t given in to his father’s worry — that if Sean hadn’t waved — maybe Travis would have turned left on his own. Instead, Travis turned right.

His snowmobile flipped as it fell 30 feet and dashed Travis on the rocks jutting out from the cliff. The first impact caved in his face and stripped his helmet. The second, another drop onto another outcropping, lodged him in between car-sized rocks and most likely resulted in the brain injury that changed everything.

Sean hasn’t slept in his own bed for three months. He works at the railroad when he can, to try to keep the medical bills from taking the Ault house he and Tammy share. When he isn’t there, he’s by Travis’ side at Children’s Hospital in Aurora or at the Ronald McDonald House.

Sean somehow made it down the cliff and held Travis close so he didn’t fall again. If there’s any luck in this, it was the arrival of other snowmobilers who helped contact search and rescue. Three hours later, authorities arrived, and it took another hour to lower Travis down from the outcropping and into a helicopter. Sean then had to ride his snowmobile 22 miles back to his truck, pushing it as hard as he could in the fading light. He made it to the Medical Center of the Rockies just in time to give Sean a hug goodbye as another chopper sent him to Children’s Hospital. He spent a month in intensive care. He’s now on the rehabilitation floor.

Sean admits progress is slow. Travis gives a thumbs up every once in a while. He can move his right arm and foot a bit. Sean doesn’t know how much his son’s brain still functions. He doesn’t know even know if Travis recognizes him.

Doctors don’t know much either. Brain injuries, one doctor told him, are the last frontier.

“But I know he’s alive and we got something to work with,” Sean said. “He’s a fighter. I know that much.”

Sean’s insurance cut him off, he said, because the company wants to put Travis in custodial care in a nursing home. Sean wants Travis to continue with therapy in the hopes that he’ll get better.

“He doesn’t change his facial expression,” Sean said, “but I would like to think he knows me. I know he can hear because he’s taking commands. I don’t think that’s random.”

It could be a year or two before he recovers, doctors have told him, or it could be never.

Sean admits he’s exhausted, and Tammy, who spends whatever time she can at the hospital, is as well. But Sean’s ready for a year or two. He doesn’t want to think about never.

So that’s why Sean stays by his son’s side, pushing Travis to look into his eyes, in between shifts that can bleed into nights on the railroad. Sean’s sometimes up 48 hours at a time.

“You can’t sleep when you know you could be doing good,” Sean said.

Caffeine and a positive attitude, he said, get him through it, but Tammy’s been the shoulder when he needs her. He’s told her this is a life-changing event, and that retirement may only be a dream now. She seems to understand, he said.

So it’s not just Sean and Travis. There’s Tammy and her sons and many others who have done amazing things, like host a benefit auction that will take place Sunday.

But sometimes it feels like that. Sometimes it feels like one of those father-son trips they took together, just the two of them.

Sean hopes with all his heart that he’ll be able to get Travis out of that hospital room and back to the outside world.

Staff writer Dan England covers the outdoors, entertainment and general assignment stories for The Tribune. His column runs on Tuesday. If you have an idea for a column, call (970) 392-4418 or e-mail dengland@greeleytribune.com. Follow him on Twitter @ DanEngland.